Thunderstorm Wind in Crosby County, Texas

A rapidly intensifying thunderstorm produced an intense downburst that struck the west half of the city of Ralls before continuing south for about one mile south of Ralls. In addition to disrupting power to 2400 people in the area for much of the night and inflicting various degrees of damage to many homes and buildings, three large cotton compress buildings on the west side of town were completely destroyed with debris strewn up to 1/4 mile south of Highway 82. The extent of debris required the closure of the 4-lane highway for nearly one hour until debris could be cleared for passage. A nearby power sub-station belonging to Excel was heavily damaged and a total of 42 power poles were downed. Radar and debris patterns observed from the NWS storm survey revealed a classic downburst signature with destructive wind gusts determined to be as high as 90 mph, with sustained speeds likely ranging between 50 and 70 mph for roughly two minutes.

Very hot temperatures characterized by highs of 102 to 107 degrees coupled with a dryline focused high based thunderstorm development near the Lubbock area this afternoon. As these storms moved east into richer moisture in Crosby County, one storm escalated significantly in intensity. This supercell thunderstorm delivered major wind and hail damage to Ralls and continued to move east through Crosbyton where several utility poles were downed. The storm then turned more southeast and struck Spur with very large hail before producing a small, brief tornado over open land south of Jayton. The greatest destruction occurred on the west side of Ralls where three large cotton compress buildings were completely destroyed by straight line winds determined to be as high as 90 mph.